The Gold Digger
by PrettyBlueFire
Summary: Clato fic based on the song Natalie by Bruno Mars. Rated M for violence and language in future chapters.
1. Haymitch's

I screamed in fustration, swinging my truck into the parking lot of a roadside bar, a rundown, shack-like place that had seen it's best days over a decade ago, I notcied that the half-burnt out lights above the door spelled out Haymitch's, which I guessed was the name of the bar. I had been on my way to my high school reunion when my GPS had freaked out on me and lead me into the middle of nowhere, and then just to rub it in, my engine died . Slaming my door shut, I locked the truck and stalked into the bar. When I walked in, I was suprised to see that despite it's aged, abandoned appearance, Haymitch's was packed and full of life. Old music blared from the speakers that adorned the walls and all around me people were dancing, talking and drinking. I pushed through the swarms of people and made my way to the bar, where a tubby, blond, middle aged mad was was serving a blonde girl about my age, her slinky yet curvy figure was being hugged in her silky black dress.

"Excuse me?" I tried to get the barman's attention, but the background cacophny just drowned me out.

"Hey, buddy!?" I shouted a little louder, this time succeding in gettiing the guys attention.

"Hey there friend, the name's Haymitch, what can I do you for?" He asked, wiping at wine glass. I explained to him my situation, all the while the pretty little blonde girl watched me like a hawk.

"So do you know anywhere I can rest up for the night, or know where the nearest garage is?" I asked.

"The nearest garage is sixty-five miles away and won't be open till ten on Monday morning. As for Motels, the cheapest one that doesn't have rats is-"

"You don't need a Motel, sweetie, you can come home with me" The blonde girl piped up, batting her emerald green eyes at me. She was goregous, I had to admit and any other night I would jump at the chance to go home with her.

"That's a nice offer, but I don't even know your name" I replied, hoping the tone of my voice would tell her I wasn't interested. Without missing a beat, however, she replied;

"My name's Glimmer" I bit back a laugh. Who would call their poor kid Glimmer?

"Well, Glimmer, that's a tempting offer, but the last thing I need right now is company" Gmimmer clamped her hand around my forearm, about to launch into her final crusade to convince me, she opened her mouth to speak, but a bored, sarcastic voice beat her to it.

"Glimmer, he's not interested, now get your slutty paws off of him, you might give him something" She unhanded me and spun in her seat, behind her was stood the most beautiful woman I had ever come across. She was small, 5'4 at the very most, her eyes and hair were the exact same shade of chocolate brown that shone under the harsh light of the bar and she had an adorable cluster of freckles dusted over the bridge of her nose and cheeks. Glimmer rose out of her chair, snapping me out of my stupor.

"I was just being friendly, Clove" She snapped, in a poor attempt at sounding cool and collected.

"Friendly my ass, Glimmer, we all heard how you were begging him to jump into bed with you" she shot back, arching her perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"I was offering him a place to stay for the night" Glimmer replied, growing more and more flustered.

"Yeah, and I'm next in line for the throne, now go feed the ducks before you make yourself look even more desperate then you already are" Ouch. That sounded like it hurt. Having nothing to say to that, Glimmer turned on her heel and marched out of the bar door. Haymitch whistled and walked away to serve anither customer, leaving me alone with Clove. She turned to go back the way she came, but I called out to her.

"Hey, um, thanks for doing that, if you hadn't of showed up I think I would've had a stalker on my hands!" I joked, she turned back, apparently she wasn't one for humor because the answer I got was;

"Get over yourself, all you were to her was a quick screw, that's all she cares about. I bet you right about now she's putting on some 'poor me' act, trying to find some guy to do her in a public restroom" She sipped some of the drink she had in her hand. Not knowing what to say to that, I tried a different approach.

"Can I buy you a drink?" I asked, as soon as I asked I regretted it. She looked at me like the idiot I am and said

"I already have a drink" She tried to walk past me, but I stepped in her path

"I know, but after that one" I was floundering at this point, but I didn't care, I couldn't leave her without at least getting her number. She sighed.

"You're not going to leave me alone now, are you?" She asked. I grinned.

"Nope" I said, she smirked, the first time I'd seen any kind of her smile all night.

"So, you know my name, what's yours?" She asked, taking another sip from her glass.

"Cato. My name's Cato." I said.

"Nice to make you aquaitance Cato" She reached her arm out and we shook hands.

Hours later, we had made our way through seventeen shots each, had told eachother everything there was to know about eachother and were stumbling up the road, drunk out of our minds and laughing. It was a good half hour until we fell through her front door. She lead me into the kitchen and produced a huge bottle of red wine from the fridge. I raised my eyebrow at the sight of it.

"What?" She teased "Can't you handle it?"

"Get me a glass. And make it a big one"

And everything after that was a complete blank.


	2. The Casino

"Oh, god." I groaned. Gingerly I gout out of bed. Hold up. This was not my room. It was purple and _flowery_. What in the hell? Then I remembered last night. My dumbass truck breaking down, Haymitch's, Glimmer and_ Clove_. I smirked as I remembered what we did last night. Blinking away the sleep, I turned over to see if she was still curled up beside where I had been. Seeing that she wasn't I went downstairs to see if she was there, but the place deserted. I looked all around the house, everywhere I stepped something creaked. Finally I called out for her, the reply I got sounded muffled and far away, but that was just down to the bitch of a hangover I was nursing. She was sat in her garden, a long stretch of lawn decorated with a multitude of different flowers whose colours shone harshly in the summer sun and a rusting child's swing in the corner. Clove was slouching in a chair, dark sunglasses covering her face. I plonked myslef dow next to her, the sunlight making my head hurt.

"How are you not hungover?" I asked groggily, seeing that she looked as composed as she had last night.

"Oh, I am" she replied flatly " I just recover better in the sunlight"

"Like a flower" I joked

"Yeah, like a flower"

Silence fell between us, I let it stay there as I sat back, the stinging from the sun finally subsiding. Suddenly, Clove jumped out of her chair.

"You wanna go for a drive?" She asked, she looked excited, like a little kid at Christmas. I wanted to say no, and I should of, but even though I'd know this girl for less than a day, I wanted to make her happy.

"Sure," I said, rising from my chair, ignoring my complaining muscles. "Where to?"

She tapped the side of her nose cryptically and gestured for me to follow her. For the first time I saw her car parked up on the drive, it was an old one, a 2006 Vauxhall Corsa. We got strapped in and set off.

"Are you going to tell me where your taking me now?" I asked, she just smirked and shook her head. The highway stretched ahead, watchig it made me dizzier annd dizzier until I finally fell asleep.

"Cato, CATO! Wake up you little lightweight" Indignantly, I opened one eye, I was _not_ a lightweight.

"What?" I grumbled. She smiled.

"We're here"

I looked up, "Here" turned out to be a casino God knows how far away from where we started. I felt a little uneasy, I had sworn off gambling because as a teenager I'd developed an adiction too it after discovering online casinos. I pushed the fear down, I hadn't gambled in years and now I was a grown ass man, I can handle myself just fine. I tumbled out of the car.

"Shall we, my lady?" I asked offerig her my arm. She rolled her eyes, but took it anyway. She looked happy that I asked for her hand, maybe I was turning into more than just a one night stand. We walked up towards the casino, the exterior looked like it was on fire, the bright lights were flame coloured and suited the name on the door that was written in gold. The Archer Casino. The interior was just as lavish as the exterior, bright flashing lights complimented the classy black and gold colour scheme, the place was stuffed full of people going to ad from the bar, fruit machines, poker games and so much more. Upon seeing all the temptaion, my self-control disloved.

3 hours later

It had been about three hours since Clove and I had arrived and I was already drunk out of my mind and on a winning streak, I had made roughly $30,00 from poker and the fruit machines and Clove and I were careering around the place giggling like kids.

"You're so good at this!" She cried, I laughed saying that I'd had a lot of practice, that was a big mistake.

"What does that mean?" She asked, it had dawned on me that now I'd have to tell her about my adiction and how it nearly ruinend my life. I took a deep breath and launched into the explanation, trying to keep it as short as possible. All the way through, she looked sympathetic, but not pitying. I liked that, it wasn't often I told that story and whenever I did I always got pity I didn't want. When I finished I held my breath, waiting for a reaction. All she said was;

"You know, Cato, I think it's time we got to know eachother better" That was definatley the weirdest thing someone has said to me after hearing that story, nevertheless, I nodded and we found ourselves a table and began to talk. I found out her last name was Detraque and that she had lived in her house her entire life, she had never wondered from her home state of Texas and was an only child. I told her about my life, that I had been raised in New York but had since travelled around, she asked me some really weird questions like the name of my first best friend, and my first pets name, stuff like that, I thought she was just trying to get to know me. I answered them truthfully, after all, what is the harm in doing so? After she ran out of questions, I asked more about her family, seeing as she already knew my entire life inside out. When I asked her smile disapeared, and she set her jaw.

"Did I just hit a nerve?" I asked, inwardly cursing myself, why would I ask about something that she had avoided in the first place? She exhaled deeply.

"No, no, you didn't hit a nerve, I know all about you, it's only fair I tell all to" She sat back in her chair "Where to begin? Okay so, my mom was a waitress and my dad was a soldier in the army, they were happily married until he got shipped off to Afghanistan. He got killed in an explosion" She stopped, tears forming in her eyes, I reached out for her wrist.

"You don't need to carry on" I reassured her.

"It's fine," She sniffed "So, I was eight when that happened ad even though he left a will, there wasn't a lot of money and when that was gone all we had was my mom's wage from the dinner. We really struggled to get by, we could barely afford food, let alone the rent and the things I need for school, so I dropped out when I was fifteen and started working at the dinner, three years later my mom died too and I got the house and yeah, that's it" For the first time, I was seeing Clove looking vunerable.

"That's sounds awful," I said carefully, knowing full well what I said next could either make or break any chance I had at an emotional relationship with her.

"But, for someone who grew up with such hardship, you've turned out great" Her face lit up, her eyes sparkling.

"Really?" She asked

"Really" I replied. We spent the rest of the night drinking, laughing and gambling. By the time we stumbled out, it was nearing midnight. We got a cab back to Clove's seeing as neither of us were sober enough to drive. I had managed to increase my winnings up to $75,000 the most I've ever won. When we got back we went straight to bed and we fell asleep instantly.


End file.
